It鈥檚 not exactly love, but something is in the air at the Calgary Zoo.
Er Shun, the female giant panda on loan from China, is in the early stages of her breeding cycle, and zoo officials are hoping to make the most of it.
But getting a giant panda pregnant is no easy task.
Female pandas only ovulate for three days a year, leaving zoo experts a very small window to try and get Er Shun pregnant.
Complicating things further, while Er Shun is physically compatible with the male Da Mao, it鈥檚 not exactly a love connection.
鈥淪he just doesn't want him to get near her or mount her,鈥� Colleen Baird, a zoo spokeswoman told CTV News.
As the time approaches Er Shun is being kept on her own, comfortably away from Da Moa, and her hormone levels are monitored daily.
When the time is right, Er Shun will be artificially inseminated with sperm from Da Mao 鈥� but the process doesn鈥檛 end there.
Pandas are what are known as 鈥渄elayed implanters,鈥� where pregnancies may not occur right away.
鈥淗er egg can float around her uterus for some time before it will implant on the uterine wall,鈥� Baird explained, 鈥渁nd then will start to grow a panda.鈥�
With a gestation period of four months, there won鈥檛 be any immediate sign that the process will work 鈥� but there鈥檚 great hope.
鈥淭he same specialist who was in Toronto is here with us so we're hoping all the same things line up for Er Shun and we have a successful fertilization of the egg,鈥� Baird said
Er Shun previously gave birth when the bears were living at the Toronto zoo, with the two cubs accompanying their mother to Calgary.
With only 1,800 giant pandas still living in the wild, conservation efforts like this remain critical to the bear鈥檚 survival.
